Lord, that’s what happens when unprepared minds rule the village

Dear Father:

You know, the other day I stood at the door of our newsroom and saw our town criers trying to restage how some of our chiefs at the Traditional Council comport themselves when dealing with members of the Old Lady’s kitchen staff.

I stood and watched them for few minutes, and something within me said only if these young and upcoming academicians knew, the kind of mistake our village have made by choosing unprepared minds to lead us.

When a man is not prepare to assume a particular role, he feels threaten by the presence of those who are much more prepared than he is. And I said to my Father, a terrible thing has happened to this village and everyone thinks it’s normal- but no, it is not Father.

I have said over and over again that when you see kings walking and fools ridding on donkeys, you must flee the scene. because a tyrant has emerged. I have seen men with authority speak-even in the calmest of mood, their orders are executed. They need not shout to be feared or demand respect. They earned respect. They never say I will show you where power lies, because from their utterance and attitudes come the semblance of power.

I have never seen a leader who is highly respected and feared by his subjects shouts when giving command. In fact, he talks less rather than rolled out sleeves to prove his power like some of our chiefs do here.

Trust me Father, a man who knows he is not a material for what he is will always be paranoid in his dealings.

Some of our chiefs are too paranoid and I am not afraid to say so because many of them are not prepared. In fact many should not even be there in the first place-that place is not for boys and girls it is for prepared men and women not hustlers.

My son, why are you ranting like this? I have not seen you in this mood for such a long time. Father, events unfolding in our village, particularly at the Lower End of the Traditional Council has aggravated my annoyance today.

When you have people who called themselves chiefs, behaving like subjects then there is a need for serious concern. But you know Father, the choices we’ve made over the past years are the ones haunting us today.

Anyway, what would you expect when you take street fighters and make them chiefs? Don’t we expect them to carry similar attitudes like that with them at the Traditional Council? There is a saying that you can take a person from the village but you can’t take the village from within them.

So what do we expect, when we make hustlers chiefs? Even in other villages around here those who go to the Traditional Council are men and women who are well prepared and want to add values to their fiefdoms and towns, not the other way around.

But when you choose people with inferiority complexes, who feel that they should be treated with certain respect but knowing that they don’t act and portray a lifestyle of the kind of respect they demand, what would you expect.

Wouldn’t you expect them to be petite in their dealings bringing dishonor to a sacred institutions by their actions and utterances, all in the name of trying to show power and demand respect?